Small Berlin cab operator obtains interim order against US limousine
service UBER.

The district Court of Berlin has granted the motion of a Berlin cab
operator and issued an interim order against the European subsidiary of the
American corporation UBER. This order prohibits the company from offering
services akin to cab trade within the federal state of Berlin via their mobile
app UBER.

The background of this motion is the strategic anti-competitive conduct
of the company, according to the German passenger transportation act, by asking
their drivers to keep themselves available even though the company has not
received permission to do so. By law, these drivers are regarded as offering
rental services and are hence obligated to return the seat of their business
after having completed their duties. UBER drivers do not comply with these
regulations and remain in and around the downtown area in order to flexibly
pick up customers. This obligation of returning is in order, though, to
specifically protect cab operators as part of the local transport system.

The petitioner rightfully asserts that not only the limousine drivers
are in breach with the regulations of law and competition but that the provider
UBER organizes and forces this breach systematically by offering this
application. In reviewing the motion for an interim order it has been shown
that UBER commits this statutory violation deliberately.

UBER is not a student-run start-up that makes mistakes out of nescience.
There is more to UBER. In the past year Google's venture capital division
Google Ventures has invested 258 million dollars in the company - more than 80%
of its annual budget. The rating of the the start-up UBER, roughly three years
after its launch, stands at 3.5 to four billion dollars. Goldman Sachs is among
its investors.

Parisian cab drivers have demolished several UBER limousines to disable
their competition. This brave cab operator from Berlin prefers to take the
legal means at his disposal.

It seems most probable that UBER will not accept and challenge the
decision of the district court. Legal hearings of the motion will show how the
Berlin limousine traffic will be organized in the future.